Case Study: Targeting, Helping Sun Care Consumers Through Technology

By: Helene Hine

Posted: August 26, 2013, from the September 2013 issue of GCI Magazine.

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With smartphone technology now in the hands of half of the U.K. population and 1 in 5 people worldwide, an app that can help promote sun safety and tell users where they can buy Solaveil products was seen as a vital development to support the Solaveil brand with both consumers and customers.

Consumer Cobranding

Two years ago, Croda launched Solaveil Physical Shield, a cooperative marketing campaign for its Solaveil brand of inorganic UV actives. The aim of the campaign is to support Croda’s customers in communicating the quality, performance and reliability of Solaveil Physical Shield UV actives. Cooperative marketing programs involving ingredient branding are an established method of enhancing the perceived value of finished products, with notable examples being Lycra in clothes and Intel in computers.

Croda explains, “Adoption of our Solaveil Physical Shield brand on finished products will effectively communicate the inclusion of the Solaveil UV actives to health and beauty conscious consumers. As a result, this will promote confidence and add value to our customers’ sun and skin care products. Importantly, it will also support our customers in communicating the proven safety and mildness of inorganic sunscreens.”

The key part of the Solaveil Physical Shield campaign is an educational website, www.solaveil.com, which provides a great deal of information about the importance of UV protection and guidelines as to what SPF to use, as well as illustrating the science behind Solaveil.

For those customers cobranding products with Solaveil Physical Shield, Croda also offers opportunities to connect with its growing social network of consumers, beauty industry bloggers and independent sunscreen experts, in addition to the iPhone app.

Additionally, Solaveil ingredient users can feature their range of products within the app itself with the geo-specific ads and clickable links direct to their website. Thus, technology is helping link healthy sun care options from ingredient to brand to consumer, all via the touch of a fingertip on a smartphone.

Helene Hine, marketing manager, sun care and biotechnology, Croda Europe Ltd., has 13 years’ experience in the beauty and personal care industry, where she has worked in technical and commercial roles covering formulation, claim substantiation and marketing of skin, sun and hair care products. She has a first class MChem from University College London as well as a diploma in cosmetic science.